Nothing can bring a real sense of beauty into a place except the welcoming hearts of a family.
When we think of the earth’s wonders, we think of distinctive places. In the recent Galak Luzon 2018, the first gathering of Silliman alumni in the country’s largest island, we were greeted by the welcoming hearts of Sillimanians in Southern Tagalog (SinTa), overshadowing the places we conquered to define true beauty in this wonderful summer experience.
Starting from Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was the humble presence of Nonoy Callejas, beaming with joy as he met his fellow Sillimanians from the Dumaguete delegation. He was apologetic that traffic at the airport’s rotunda made it difficult for him to reach to us on time; but we were just so excited about the reunion, we didn’t even notice any bit of delay.
SU Trustee Atty. Grace Sumalpong, who had lived in Manila for the longest time, volunteered to be our chief navigator towards southern Luzon. Armed with the good judgement of Waze, we all felt secure to start the journey via the Cavite Expressway (previously popularly referred to as the Cavite Coastal Road), a 14-kilometer drive along the coast of Manila Bay.
In no time, we found ourselves at Casa Fernando Tagaytay Resort House in Silang. The brothers behind this beautiful mountain resort are the Carriaga Sillimanians Nanding (Chemistry) and Pete (Agriculture).
It’s inspiring to know that these brothers, who grew up in the town of Bindoy, have since established a wonderful entrepreneurial journey in southeren Luzon.
Casa Fernando as center of the welcoming for Galak Luzon 2018 was truly a fun place, with local delicacies and fresh fruits from Cavite and Batangas endlessly displayed on our table.
Our generous lady host, Helen, wife of Nanding, shared the regular features in the hospitality tradition of Pila, her hometown. This lovely Tagala showed us the local dishes prepared the old-fashioned way: sinukmani, ginataang hipon, bibingka, special espasol, dried biya from Laguna de Bay, salted egg, longganisang San Pablo, tsokolate, pinipig, and puto Pila — gastrowonders which made our first day filled with delicious welcoming.
The wonders of the second day involved the members of the registration team from Jefcor Laboratories Inc. in Dasmariñas — the same team behind every physical arrangement and the actual mounting of the events.
The Jefcor excellence was evident in the well-organized registration of delegates, distribution of packages, and management of the tours. Like a hardworking ant colony, they were all in full alert to honor Jefcor queen (owner and proprietor) Edna Callejas-Mijares, Outstanding Sillimanian Awardee. We thank Edna for her untiring queenly backboning of Galak Luzon.
Flowers and butterflies was the theme of the welcome dinner. The night was made more colorful with the floral skirts and dresses of the ladies, and the floral shirts of the men. The event opened with cerebrally-empowered Madame Butterfly, Outstanding Sillimanian Perla Rizalina M. Tayko, author of Whole Brain Literacy, who reminded us of the wisdom of metamorphosis during her book launch that night.
Another book, A View of Silliman from Camp Lookout, by President Dr. Ben S. Malayang III, got a Luzon relaunch that evening.
Both books marked some of the harvests of Silliman excellence which inspired the alumni.
The evening of flowers and butterflies was also an evening with campus icons in the Performing Arts. Outstanding Sillimanian Miguel Braganza serenaded the alumni with Broadway hits. Southville President Dr. Marl Ferenal (Engineering) gifted his fellow Sillimanians with two songs: his own composition and a pop tune talking about our agelessness. Colors of the Tagalog culture were captured in the fun fellowship songs with Leron-leron Sinta and Paru-parong Bukid, tunes that were modified with lyrics bearing the ‘Silliman Spirit‘ theme.
The winner of the most colorful delegation was the Cagayan de Oro Chapter led by their President Bacal Guarin and Outstanding Sillimanian Emmanuel Abellanosa.
National Alumni President Dr. Abel Gomez and the Bravo ladies won best in colorful attire, with Dumaguete’s Leo Mamicpic as runner-up.
Amidst all the buzz was the quiet composure of wonder woman, SinTa President Luna Tizon-Molina. It was heartwarming to see Arnel, Luna’s very supportive husband, and their daughter Asha work as hard as Luna to make Galak an animated success.
In honor of the Molinas’ dedication and commitment, Arnel was officially inducted as Luzon president of the Silliman Alumni Drivers & Youth Association (SADYA) by Linda Bañas-Alvarez, prime mover of the “Sillimanians Summer Family Fun all over the Philippines” concept.
SADYA is a brainchild of Linda’s husband Rene Alvarez who thought it fun to organize the “non-Sillimanian husbands/wives/children who patiently wait in the wings and provide moral support to their Sillimanian spouses/parents involved in Chapter events”. The SADYA motto is “Eat. Drink. Wait.”
Leslie Mangaoil and Jeffrey Mijares are national advisers.
From what we experienced at Galak Luzon, anyone could see how Luna Tizon-Molina’s kind of leadership is always done with the art of listening. Her deep sense of sensitivity is a gift to all of us, which made the first Galak Luzon solid enough to become the foundation of future Silliman celebrations.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
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